Laptop HD recovery options

fatherdougalmag

Deadly. I didn't know we had a "HSE for Computers" thing on boards We're all dooomed!!!!

Anyway, for reasons my psychologist has urged me to wipe from my mind, my laptop (Dell Inpsiron 6000) found itself sitting in a pool of water and subsequently gave up the ghost. Well that was the diagnosis I had formed as my other half rang me with the news.

Upon investigation with a Linux live CD (Kanotix) it appears that it's only the HD that has suffered. So I've pulled the HD out of my beloved Packard Bell Play and Go media player and am back up for now.

So now I have a 40GB HD which, upon power up emits some tones (yes, the drive appears to have some kind of speaker) and then stops silent. It doesn't spin up. When I took it out, there was a noticable amount of water on the underside where circuitry is exposed. I should think that the platters themselves are ok. A night in the hotpress didn't seem to make any difference. Then I wondered if I got out and put the drive in the hotpress it might dry out. But still nothing.

There are some photos and music that I wouldn't mind getting back so I'm wondering if anyone has tried on the of data recovery companies that are around. Naturally, I'd only consider it if it didn't run to hundreds of pounds. But I thought I'd survey the forums to see if anyone can recommend on these companies and indicate what the typical price is.

Yes, I have emailed a couple but I'm waiting for a response which I probably won't get until next week.

Thanks for now

aidan_walsh

Moved from Computer Health, which is really more for software based woes than hardware ones.

Wow, that *is* HSE like...

coolmoose

you're looking at BIG money for the data recovery companies to look at your drive, they do manage to get stuff recovered a lot of the time, but serious money involved (can run into the thousands sometimes)...

i presume you have tried this drive in an external enclosure? sounds bad to me though, water on circuitry is never good news though lets be honest.

RobbieMc

What make and model is the drive?

I ask,because in some cases the circuit board can be replaced and the drive might start up from thata.

I've done this in the past on 3.5" drives and it worked.

Rob

coolmoose

^^ this is why i love boards, always someone who has taken things one step further. excellent! sorry i could be of no use though!

fatherdougalmag

RobbieMc, it's a Western Digital WD400. I have it sitting in a HD enclosure of sorts. It's actually a media player/external USB drive that I got a while ago. It still makes the 'sound' (i.e. 2 tones) when I try to hook it up to my laptop.

I've never looked in inside a HD of any sort but I'd imagine exposing it to 'the atmosphere' could introduce dust and/or moisture. Having said that, it's not as if it can get any worse than it is. Would it have to be a WD circuit that I'd have to hook the platters up with or could I put it into any mfr? Truth be told, I don't have any other 2.5" drives around (other the one that I've got in the laptop now) so it would be a while before I come across such a thing.

kmick

I would leave it in your hotpress for longer than one night. Try it for a week. Sounds like there is a lot of water in there. I have found that water can be non-lethal if dried out properly but stop 'trying it' uintil it is fully dried out.